Dragon Tamers
by CaramelBay
Summary: AU! In a world where a dragon can be your best friend or your worst nightmare, Lucy Heartfilia has been forced to undergo the challenge of taming one of these fearsome creatures. Haunted by her mother's death, will she be able to let go of her fear and come to love her dragon companion? Along with a few others too. Pairings: Nalu, Jezra, Gruvia, GaLe, RoWen
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hello my friends! So lately, I've had a bad case of writer's block, and that's kept me away from Icicle Dreams! I know what I want to happen, but I just can't MAKE it happen…. If that makes sense. **

**So even though I've had no motivation for that story I've had tons of ideas for new ones. So this is a brand new story for you all to read! I'm not sure how long this one is going to be, but I hope you like it! Hopefully after I can write a few chapters of this and get it out of my system, I'll be able to continue with Icicle Dreams! (ID is not on hiatus, its just waiting for me XD)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!**

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For the past seventeen years, I've harbored a… what is perceived as an unnatural fear of dragons. I just don't understand how someone can feel so comfortable with a ten foot tall, fire breathing beast. Hell, up until the Great Dragon Revolution, human kind was terrified of these creatures. So why is it that me, a poor, defenseless little girl, is being forced to go live with these monsters that will probably end up killing her?

Well, allow me to explain.

My name is Lucy Hearfilia, daughter of Jude and Layla Hearfilia and heir to the Heartfilia fortune. As someone looking in, you probably don't understand how big a deal the Hearfilia name is, but trust me, you will. Anyways, like most kids here in Fiore, I too had grown up around dragons. They were just about as common as a dog and most people have them. Well, maybe not most, but a lot. Before I was born, only those with a high pedigree were able to tame dragons, but now, dragons do the choosing and almost anyone is able to become a dragon tamer.

Well, almost. It is said that a dragon only chooses its master if they are 'pure of heart.' I don't exactly believe that because my father has a dragon, but that's besides the point. So even though I've grown up around dragons, I'm still afraid of them. I probably wasn't always afraid, maybe just a bit timid when I was younger. Sort of like a child and electrical socket. You want to touch, but you understand the pain that comes with it.

Unfortunately, it seemed like I was the only one who understood that pain. Both of my parents were successful dragon tamers, and both kept dragons of their own. Although I said almost anyone could have a dragon, having a powerful dragon is still a sign of hierarchy. Dragons are used to race, fight, and are even a form of entertainment. If you had a powerful dragon, who could stop you from taking over the world?

No one.

That was the way my father saw it. His dragon, Lucky, was a powerful fire dragon, and my father was not afraid to use his power in order to get what he wanted. My mother on the other hand, realized the beauty and the nobility of the dragon. Hers, whom she named Love, was a docile water dragon. I remember spending hours nestled between Love's wings as my mother told stories of their adventures together. Those were my fondest memories of my childhood. Me, my mother, and her dragon.

One of my father's favorite quotes is 'all good things must come to an end.' I remember him saying that at my mother's funeral. I was only seven at the time and he said that to me as I sobbed at her graveside. I don't remember much about that day, but those words stood out to me. My mother's death hit me hard. She and Love had been out together, taking a stroll like they normally did every afternoon. Mother called it her quiet time, Father called it irresponsible, a grown woman skipping around a field of flowers with such a high quality dragon. While they are walking, something snapped with Love. She started thrashing around and became uncontrollable. One of our servants had seen it happen, had seen the normally docile dragon pick up my mother in her mouth and shake her around till her neck snapped. I don't know exactly how true the story was, but I believed it.

From then on I became determined to shut dragons out of my life. I would never touch one, or be near one, or ever become a dragon tamer.

But of course my father had other plans.

For children of nobles, a tenth birthday is very important. It involves an important ceremony that calls forth your chosen dragon partner. I always thought it was stupid. If poor people could still get dragons, why did we need such a complicated ceremony? I learned later it was all for publicity, but as a ten year old, I was in the dark.

I still held fast to my beliefs, well more like my fear, of the dragons though. Even after waiting all through the night, and later into the next day, no dragon could be summoned for me. My father was aghast. That night he screamed things at me along the lines of 'how dare a Hearfilia child not be able to summon their dragon?' and 'you are an embarrassment to this family!' I had blocked most of the yelling out, since when were we a family? Of course, being the outspoken thing I am, I voiced that opinion and was smacked across the face.

The next few years were similar to that. Every now and again my father would have me try and summon a dragon, but again had no luck. I made sure of that. No way was I about to befriend a beast that had killed my mother. Father told me he was ashamed of me. When I was fifteen, he had no problem screaming at me about how all his rich friend's kids were in school becoming powerful dragon tamers. For the most part, I ignored him and went back to my writing. It was the one thing I could take solace in.

But then, the quote came back, and all 'good' things must come to an end. Before I turned seventeen my father had haughtily showed up at my door and said he had enrolled me in the prestigious Dragon Tamers School of Fiore. If I hadn't been a smart girl, used to my abusive father, I would have laughed. A tamer school taking a girl without a dragon? I had asked about that, plus brought up the fact that by this time, most tamers had been in school for years, how did he expect me to thrive in this environment?

He had a smirk across his face and simply told me to 'wait and see.' With that he had left the room and a few moments later, my maid, Virgo, walked in carrying an arm loads of clothes. Tamer clothes, I had noted. She had gone on and on about how we wouldn't know what specific colors to pick because we didn't know what kind of dragon I would have. We packed them all and she had given me a tearful hug. And that was the last time I ever saw Virgo.

Nah just kidding, but I decided that would be the last night I would ever spend at the Hearfilia estates. Sure, I would go to this dragon school. Then I would make sure they wouldn't want me, run away before my dad found out, and try to make my way in the world by myself.

The next day we got up early and piled my belongings into the car. With only my father and I, it was a very quiet ride. It was almost a three hour drive to the school from our house. The perfect distance to be away from daddy, but for him to still be able to keep an eye on me, I noted. After arriving at the school, my father and I said very stoic good byes. He seemed almost as happy to be rid of me as I was of him, only he didn't know it was going to be permanent.

And this is where we are now.

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"Now Lucy, I think you're going to love it here! We've have children come before without dragons and we were able to match them up with one hundred percent success!" One of the headmasters, Makarov told me. We were walking down one of the marbled halls that would lead to the classrooms. "Now, you'll have four classes a day, starting at 8 am. Two before lunch and two after. Classes are an hour and a half each. Once school finishes for the day, you are welcome to do as you see fit. As long as you are able to get your homework done." He added.

"Yeah? And what is there to do in a place where the walls are so high you can't see over them?" I asked, a little snarkily. The first thing I had noticed about this school were the ten feet metal walls that surrounded the school. I was told it was to keep dragons in and out, but I'm sure it was more designed for students in mind.

Makarov, or Master he said to call him, chuckled. "Well most people work with their dragons. Learning by doing and all that. We have a variety of clubs and events to participate in. Once you are able to summon a dragon, you will be invited into one of the four elemental houses, but that all depends on your dragon's element. What were your parent's elements?" He asked me.

"Water and fire." I told him shortly. Two elements and people who certainly did not mix.

"Peculiar. Not the most common of combinations." Master said. "Well although it's no guarantee, children are more likely to have the same elemental type as their parents." He pointed up at me. "A dragon can sense that you know."

I nodded my head, trying to hide my eye roll. "Right, well we've tried in the past but I'm just not cut out for being a dragon tamer." I told him. Maybe if he realized right away that I was a failure, he'd just let me go. Unfortunately, he just scoffed.

"You want to know who told me that? My grandson when he was about your age. Now look at him, one of the most successful dragon tamers in the country." Master told me proudly. "He's also going to be one of your teachers here. Like I told you before Lucy, we have a 100% success rate." He told me, looking straight into my eyes. I mentally cursed. He was obviously used to dealing with spoiled rich types like me.

"Alright, alright. So we start tomorrow?" I asked, arms crossed in front of my chest. The little man started laughing. He didn't even come up to my waist, but his laughter still shook the room.

"Oh no! There's no better day than today!" He said gleefully. "Now come with

me. We're going to see about finding you your dragon!" Master told me as he pulled my arm. He led me through the maze of a school and all I could think about was how I was ever going to remember where I was. After what seemed like an eternity of stumbling down never ending halls, we ended up in a large grassy field. The field seemed to go on for miles until finally ending at a forest.

"Woah." I breathed and I heard Master chuckle beside me.

"Yes. Woah indeed. DTS is a school located on almost a hundred miles of land. The school is just the entrance." He told me. "As we speak, there are dragon tamers in the woods working with their dragons, in lakes, and we even have an arid desert type land. We want our students to be prepared in the most extreme conditions." I nodded my head dumbly as he continued. "Now, we must go out into the wilderness!" He said dramatically and raised a whistle to his lips. He blew two short tweets and then waited. I looked around confused.

My confusion didn't last that long. Suddenly, my view was filled with a large yellow dragon soaring above us. I mentally panicked and backed away, preparing to flee. Master grabbed my hand and held me there. "Now now, Mavis wouldn't hurt a fly." He assured me. I gulped. Yeah, well, we weren't flies now were we?

What had to be the biggest dragon I had ever seen landed before us. Its large yellow wings spread out and laid on the ground. The dragon gave a mighty roar and looked at us expectantly. Its whole body was lined with spikes that stood up. I froze watching the beast as it ambled towards us. Master held out a hand to the dragon and she stopped.

"Lucy, this is Mavis, my partner. She's an earth dragon. Although she looks pretty terrifying, she's just a big old teddy bear." By this point, Master had walked around to the front of the dragon and had scratched under her chin. "Come here, say hi! She won't let you on until you've introduced yourself." He told me.

"Wait you mean we're riding this thing?" I practically shrieked. Master shot me a pointed look.

"Lucy, Mavis isn't a thing, she's a lady. Isn't that right?" He said in a baby voice to the dragon who thumped her tail happily. "And of course. I don't believe in that mumbo-jumbo summoning crap those high society folks use. The best way to meet your dragon is to go out there and find him. So come here and introduce yourself!" He ordered. I inched over to the dragon. Alright Lucy, just one foot in front of another. Before I knew it I was face to snout with the yellow dragon. She watched me expectantly. "Well? Tell her your name." Master prodded.

I held out my hand hesitantly. "Uh… Hi Mavis. I'm… uh, Lucy?" I said, feeling really stupid I was talking to an animal. Mavis gave a sort of whinny-cough and pushed her snout against my hand. I froze at the contact. Her head was hard and cool, but if you pushed on the scales I'm sure they would contract in. Her brown eyes stared into mine and I felt myself falling into them. I don't know how long we stood there like that but Master's voice brought me out of my trance.

"Good! I knew you'd be a natural! Dragons can see things we can't you know." He told me. "Alright! Let's board this dragon and get started!" He climbed onto the dragon, grabbing her spikes for support but obviously not hurting her. He instructed me where to grab and I pulled myself up. Once sitting on the dragon, I could feel her muscles work under me and she walked along. Even with the saddle, I could feel the coolness of her skin. I squeezed the edges of the saddle.

"Alright Mavis. Show me what you can do." I whispered and the dragon cocked one of its ears. I could see the Master's grin from behind and before I knew it, Mavis had pushed off the ground and we were flying through the air. Of course, I screamed. Even when Mother was alive, she never let me fly with either of our dragons. And I could see why, with ever turn and spin, I felt like I was going to slip off the dragon and fall into the sky. I grabbed onto Master and squeezed hard. I was going to die, I was going to die, I was-

"Lucy! Do you see over there?" I heard Master shout over the wind. "There's a nest of water dragons! They just hatched last week! We're going to go check on them!" He told me. I nodded my head and refocused on the land around us. We had cleared the grass land and were flying high over the forest. Mavis dipped a few times until Master clicked his tongue and she dove for the ground.

Besides the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to speak tomorrow from all the screaming, we reached the ground unharmed. I slid off the back of the dragon and fell ungracefully to the ground. I felt Mavis' spikes fold under my back and then rise back into place as I slid off. Once Master was off, she shook and then lumbered off towards a stream of water.

"Now be very quiet. We don't want to spook the mother." Master told me, a finger to his lips. I sweatdropped. Oh great, lets invade the mother's nest. See how that goes. We practically tip toed over to a small cave at the base of the river. Master held up a hand for me to wait and then walked in the cave. After a few moments I heard voices from the cave. A girl's voice. A few minutes later, Master and a girl with curly blue hair walked out of the cave. The girl carried a small bundle in her arms.

"Lucy, this is Juvia Lockser, one of our resident water dragon slayers. She discovered the pregnant mother and has been caring for her and the babies for the past week." Master said, introducing us. The girl, Juvia, smiled brightly. She was wearing a pair of short black shorts and a white tank top, with a short dark blue jacket over top. Blue, the sign of a water tamer, I noted. I looked closer at the bundle in her arms and realized it was moving!

"Hello Lucy, I am Juvia, and this is one of the three baby dragons that hatched the other week. He is sick so I have to pay special attention to him." Juvia explained. She slightly unwrapped the bundle to reveal a small grey dragon with blue spots dotted all over him. "I'm calling him Dot for now. Want to hold me?" She told me happily.

I smiled at her. "Great. And no, I'm good thanks." I said simply. She frowned at my response and directed her attention back to the baby dragon.

Master sighed. "Yeah I didn't think you'd work well with water either. Let's move on!" He called and climbed back onto Mavis. I looked around confused, had I just failed some kind of test? Juvia shrugged and turned back to the cave. "Well, come on!" Master shouted at me. I scurried back to Mavis and climbed on.

"Want to tell me what just happened?" I shouted over the wind once we were up in the air.

"Water types are very affectionate. Very cuddly. Your outright rejection made it very obvious that you and a water type would not get along well, so we'll try another element." Master yelled back. Oh alright, so I had failed a test.

"Where to now?" I asked him a few minutes later. We were now flying over what appeared to be a great lake, headed towards mountains. I had never seen mountains in this part of Fiore, so this was new.

"Going to look at some earth dragons! I have a feeling you wouldn't do well with fire. They're big practical jokers!" Master said and I could hear the smile in his voice. Har har har. Me? Not take a joke? Please.

We landed a few minutes later and climbed off the dragon. I saw a huge black dragon munching on a piece of steel happily, oblivious to its surroundings. Master held up a hand to the dragon in greeting. "Yo. Titania! Where is Erza?" He called out to it. The dragon, Titania, made a low screeching sound and shook itself, a layer of soot coming off and revealing the dragon to not be black, but silver with black markings! A few minutes later a girl came jumping down the rocks from a platform on the mountain.

"Master! I didn't see you coming. Usually Mavis is much louder." A red haired girl said good naturedly. She noticed me and waved. "You must be the new student we've heard so much about!" She said grabbing my hand and shaking it. "It's odd to get a new student in our grade so we're all excited to meet you! My name is Erza Scarlet!"

"Lucy Hearfilia." I responded. I took in her appearance. A brown skirt with a simple white button down shirt. I assumed she was an earth tamer. Virgo always told me it was important to know what kind of tamer a person was, and usually their clothes reflected that. Each element had their own respective colors. Water was shades of blue, earth was browns and greens, Air was yellows and whites, while fire was red and black. This was an important thing to know. "Nice to meet you." I said finally.

She nodded in approval then went back over to Master. "What can I do for you today?" She asked him.

"Any feral earth dragons lately?" Master asked her and she shook her head in response.

"No. Earth dragons are more likely to keep to themselves. I haven't seen any new litters or even any eggs." Erza told us. "Though there is that one dragon I've seen flying around here… but no, as far as I know, there is no wild earth dragon available." Master sighed.

"Alrighty then." Master said shoving his hands in his pockets. "I guess I'll try and find Mira then. She'll know if there are any wild dragons roaming around." He told us. Erza scoffed.

"Oh please. You just want to see MiraJane." She muttered and I looked at her questioningly. She simply shrugged in response. "Well, good luck Lucy. I guess I'll see you in class too." She said and walked over to her dragon. She gave Titania an affectionate pat and climbed on. A few moments later they were up into the air flying towards the school. The sky was starting to get dark. I hadn't realized how much time we had spent flying around the campus.

"Well Lucy." Master said with a sigh. "I think it's about time we go back. We still have tomorrow to find one too. This isn't the end of the world!" He said positively. I nodded and climbed back onto the dragon. Well at least I was a little more comfortable with Mavis. Without delay, we too pushed off into the sky towards the school.

After a few minutes I could tell something wasn't right. Mavis kept veering off to the right and had to be redirected by Master. He told me it was nothing to worry about. Mavis was an old girl and was just spooked by something over by the woods. After a few more minutes of this Master clicked his tongue at Mavis and she seemed to settle down. The rhythmic flapping of her wings put me into a trance and I zoned out a little pit. I didn't notice when I dark figure shot up from the tree brush right in front of our path. Mavis stopped suddenly and jolted back, almost spinning in the air.

In the confusion I lost my grip on the saddle and fell back, but I didn't connect with any part of the dragon. I felt myself slip off from Mavis and fall. Master called my name and I reached helplessly, but we were too far apart. I fell fast towards the earth. This was it. I was going to die because of a dragon just like my mother. I squeezed my eyes shut. Air whooshed around me as I fell and I counted down the seconds till I would hit the ground.

Then suddenly, I did hit something. It knocked the air out of me, but it definitely wasn't the ground. I felt muscles bulging underneath me and hard flapping around me. I flipped over and found myself on an unsaddled dragon. I looked up to see Mavis and Master diving after us, relief etched on his face.

The dragon I was ridding seemed to understand and gave a cry, and Mavis slowed in her pursuit. We continued flying towards the school and Master followed behind us. I hesitantly stroked the dragon behind the ears, thanking it. It was dark, but I could see she was almost all white, white yellow outlining her body and muscles. An air dragon, I concluded. No wonder it was fast.

Air dragons were one of the fastest dragons out there. Usually a bit smaller than others, but their small size made them perfect for speed. After a few more minutes we landed. I slid onto the ground, this time collapsing onto it. The dragon nudged me slightly but made no sound. Master ran over to me once he too had landed.

"Lucy! Are you alright! I hadn't noticed, but we had strayed too close to a fire dragon's nest. Territorial little bastard didn't like how close we were and tried to attack." Master explained quickly. I nodded and he sighed in relief. "Alright lets get you looked at though, I'm a little worried-"  
"Master I'm fine. Thanks to this dragon." I said pointing at her. Master side stepped me to go inspect the dragon.

"Oh this was the little girl who Erza was talking about earlier. She's about ten years old, young for a dragon. We don't know when she got here, but she's been flying around ever since. She's faster than most of our dragons so no ones been able to catch her and inspect her." He said running a hand over her neck. The dragon stretched out happily under his touch and opened her mouth in a smile.

"What's her name?" I asked, assuming all of the dragons had names here. All the ones I've met so far had. Master chuckled.

"Well, she's your dragon so I think that's your decision." Master said simply. I stared at him.

"What do you mean, 'my dragon?'" I asked him, throwing up air quotes.

"There's no dragon that would save a random human out of the goodness of his or her heart. Dragons are just like us, they only do things when they see fit. This girl must have seen something in you and decided to make you her partner." Master explained. I felt my jaw drop. They really did have a 100% rate. "Well go on; introduce yourself to your savior."

I walked over to the dragon and held out my hand like I had for Mavis. The dragon looked at me with a bored expression. I swallowed hard. "Hey there. Thanks for saving me back there. My name is Lucy Hearfilia." I told her, when I got no response I continued. "The guy over there says I should name you, but I mean, you've been alive for ten years, I'm sure you already have a name, right?" I asked, babbling a little. To that the dragon opened her mouth and let out what sounded like a cry mixed with a laugh. 'Celeste.' I heard a voice in the back of my head say. "Celeste?" I asked her, resting a hand on her snout.

She locked eyes with me and nodded slightly. Alright then, Celeste it was then.

Master cleared his throat and grinned at us. "Lucy, Celeste, welcome to the Dragon Tamer's School of Fiore, and congratulations on taking your first steps on become a dragon tamer!" He practically announced. I grinned a little bit and leaned on Celeste. Nah, this was one dragon that wasn't so scary. I could get used to this.

Celeste cried out into the air, her voice almost deafening. The eight foot dragon reared back on her hind legs and continued her cry. I panicked slightly and Master gave a low whistle.

"She's celebrating." He told me and I relaxed a little. But I still moved over closer to Master and farther away from my rambunctious dragon. "She's only ten, which is similar to a child in our lives. You're going to have to be patient with her Lucy. You two will be learning together, so keep that in mind." Master explained to me. "There is an empty stable around back you can keep her in tonight. We will find a more suitable place in the morning for her." He instructed me where to go and I assured him I could handle it myself.

After a few minutes of being lost, I finally found the stable, with Celeste lumbering beside me. It was a small stable, with only six compartments. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought I was for horses. I led Celeste to an open room and she immediately settle down in it, walking in circles until finally laying down.

"Alright, you be a good girl." I told her, proud of how quickly she had adjusted to life here. I closed the door and took a few steps away from the door…. That is until I heard the low pitiful cry of a dragon. It sounded like crying and almost broke my heart. Almost, until I heard an angry voice screaming to shut up. I reopened the door and found Celeste, who was watching me with her opened mouth smile. "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" I asked her and she made a high pitched laughing sound.

I opened the door of her little room and sat down next to her. "Alright, but only till you fall asleep okay?" I told the dragon. She lowered her head and closed her eyes, please with our deal. I leaned back against her and closed my eyes. A few minutes later I felt her drape her wing over me, keeping me warm. Soon I was lulled to sleep by the warmth and the rhythmic breathe of my new dragon partner.

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**Author's note: And that's chapter one! I really hope you like this! It was a great way to cure my writer's block and its given me a new story to work on! Its also given my ideas for ID ;)**

**Please review and tell me what you think so far! Next chapter will mean more characters and more exploring of the school! I have names for almost all the character's dragons, but I'm still missing a few! I'm trying to base the names of their powers. (Lucy-celestial spirits, Erza- Requip, but they call her Titania so I thought that would be cute) Please just throw out a few names! Don't be afraid! Reviews make me so happy and make me wanna write more!**

**Love you all!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Hellloooo fantastic readers! How's everyone doing? So I've kinda fell in love with this story and its only on the first chapter! I hope you come to like it just as much as I do! At some point I have a few other stories, but for now, I'll focus on the ones I have uploaded here. (mostly so you wont kill me for having like a hundred unfinished stories.)**

**I just wanna say thank you to some people for helping me with this! I was really torn on which story to write, and thanks to you I decided on this one! You know who you are ;D**

**Alright, please enjoy chapter two of Dragon Tamers!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail**

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"Hearfilia, is there any particular reason as to why you decided not to check into your dorm and also skip your first day of classes?" I heard an angry voice bark at me. I sleepily opened my eyes to see a giant, muscle clad blonde man standing in front of me, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "I swear, the entire staff goes crazy looking for you and when I come to fetch my dragon in order to do an aerial view, I find you asleep in here!" The man said gruffly. I looked around at my surroundings. I was still in the stable with Celeste. Celeste looked from the man to me, and then back up at the man. Getting bored of that she laid her head back down, uninterested.

"Wait what? What time is it?" I asked groggily. I guess I must have fallen asleep here last night. The man made an angry click with his tongue.

"Almost nine o'clock." He told me. "Now if I were you, I'd hurry off to your next class before you decide to sleep through that too!" He yelled at me. After being yanked off the ground and practically shoved out of the barn, he called. "You're class is in the Fairy building so hurry up!"

Yesterday Master had told me there were four main buildings for classes. The Pegasus building, Saber tooth building, Mermaid building, and Fairy building. Mermaid was for years one and two, Pegasus for years three and four, Saber tooth for years five and six, and then Fairy held years seven and eight. Master also told me there was a fifth building, but it had burned down last year after a… series of unforeseen events. I was curious, but I didn't question it.

After jogging down the path the angry blonde man told me to take, I realized I was still wearing my clothes from yesterday. I did a quick time check, only 9:00. I could probably find my dorm and then make it to class on time. Most likely. I quickly changed my path and made my way to the dorms. It was only my second time visiting them, but I remembered my room number. After climbing the stairs to the second floor, I ran down two hallways till I finally found my room. I unlocked the door using my key and stepped inside.

It was a nice room, a soft pink color on the walls, with white carpeting. There were two beds, one for me and another for the roommate I hadn't met yet. Master told me it would be someone in my class, but I since I never came back last night, I hadn't gotten to meet her. My bed was on the right side of the room. It had its own desk and a small closet to store clothes. The room kind of reminded me of a hotel.

I quick dug through my drawers, pulling out the school's uniform. A white button down shirt and s blue plaid skirt. A simple, stereotypical school uniform, but what can I say, I looked good. I tied part of my hair up with a blue ribbon and did a quick spin in front of the mirror in the bathroom. I did another time check. 9:20. If I ran, I could probably make it to class on time. I threw open the door to the room, and ran smack into a short blue haired girl. She 'eeked' and fell on the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" I asked, helping her up. She laughed slightly.

"Yeah, I'm good, just a little surprised." She said rubbing her arm. Her eyes did a quick once over on me and she smiled. "I'm guessing you're my new roomie?" She asked.

I looked at the door and then back at her. "I mean yeah, if you live in room 208. I'm Lucy Heartfilia." I said, introducing myself.

"Levy McGarden. 7th year. Well, you probably already knew that since we're room mates." She joked casually. "I forgot my notebook for Dragon Studies and Ms. Orlando would murder me if I didn't have it." I froze in my step. Right, school supplies. I reopened the door and followed Levy in, grabbing my own bag in the process.

"How long have you been going here?" I asked Levy after we left the room.

"Uh since my second year, so like, fivish years?" Levy estimated. "I met my dragon, Libro, when I first got here. He's a water type. Do you have a dragon?" She asked me.

"Yeah, since yesterday. An air type." I told her. We walked down a hallway and finally exited the door building. There was a dorm for boys and girls and they were on opposite sides of campus from each other. After hearing some of Levy's wild stories of the boys, I was glad we were so far apart.

"Oh an air type? How cool! Their a lot rarer than water types." Levy said. "But I'm happy with Libro. I can't tell you how many hours me and him have spent hours reading together by a stream." I perked up, reading?

"You like to read?" I asked her excitedly. She grinned.

"Of course! Heck, libro means book in Spanish! I spend so much time reading! That's partially why I was sent to this school, so I would spend time doing anything other than reading!" Levy said with a laugh. After crossing a courtyard we were standing in front of the Fairy building. "Well this is it! Your educational home for the next two years!"

I looked at the building in awe. It was tall, that was for sure. Levy said it was only four stories, but it seemed huge. It was like most school buildings, a concrete block, but the students had decorated it with designs and pictures. It looked like a work of art.

"Every year, the graduating 8th years add some kind of mural on the building. Its tradition." Levy explained to me. I just nodded my head, in awe of the building. Levy did a quick look at her watch. "Crap! It's 9:30! We're gonna die!" She yelled and then ran through the doors. I followed her and we dashed inside the school. We ran up a flight of stairs, and then stood panting in front of the door. Levy peeked inside and then sighed with relief. "She's not here yet. We're so lucky!" Levy cheered.

"McGarden. I figured of all people, you would have been smart enough to realize that not getting caught only works once you've actually entered the classroom." An icy voice said behind us. Levy paled and I spun around to see a tall, extremely beautiful woman standing behind us. She wore a black pants suit, her hair down with the exception of two small buns on either side.

"Ms. Orlando." Levy whimpered. The woman, Ms. Orlando, glared at the two of us.

"Go sit down McGarden. Heartfilia, don't move." She ordered and then walked in the classroom. Levy walked in and gave me a helpless look. I stood there dumbfounded, confused as to why I was being forced to stay out in the hall. Shouldn't I be inside, uh, learning?

"Now class, I have someone very special to introduce to you all. Of course, Mr. Lates should have been the one to do this, but our new… friend found it more preferable to sleep in." I heard Ms. Orlando say and the class laughed in response. I felt myself go red. Oh great. Great first impression. "This new student also finds the stables much more preferable to dorm rooms, so please go easy on her. She obviously isn't used to… civilization." Ms. Orlando continued.

What the heck? What have I ever done to this woman? I ground my teeth, trying to calm down so I wouldn't barge in the classroom and punch the obnoxious lady.

"Now I want everyone to keep an eye on her. We don't know when she'll start to go tribal and attack us." Again more laughter. "Or she may just fall asleep on us." I clenched my fists. No way was this worth this. I was going to march down to the Master's office and- "tfilia? Hearfilia? You can come in now. Jeeze you must be deaf too." The snide voice said. I realized the door was opened and Orlando was instructing me to come in.

I stiffly walked into the room, flashed a smile, and dropped down into the closest desk. I could hear some of the kids whisper about me. I turned around and made eye contact with Levy, she gave me shrug. 'What can you do?' Her eyes said.

Orlando sat down at her desk and put her feet up on it. "Alright, just do the pages I told you to do for homework, since I'm positive everyone expect Scarlet didn't do it." Orlando said gruffly. Scarlet. I remember that name. I looked around to see the earth tamer from yesterday huff and sit back in her desk, obviously disappointed. Nonetheless, she caught my eye and gave me a small smile.

"She's a bitch." A deep voice said next to me. I jumped slightly and turned to the boy next to me. He had long black hair, held back by a thick headband and his face was covered in piercings. I shivered. This guy looked pretty scary.

"Who is?" I asked timidly. Was it me?

"Orlando. Think she's so great cause her daddy pays money to the school. That's the only reason she's a teacher." He said gruffly. He crossed his arms over his chest. "I mean come on, anyone could teach dragon studies."

I nodded, only semi understanding the point he was trying to make. Was he trying to make me feel welcomed?

"Well, I know I deserved some kind of punishment, but now everyone thinks I'm some hick who doesn't know how to sleep in a bed." I complained to him. He chuckled under his breath.

"Well, coming from someone who is a hick and prefers to sleep on the ground under the stars compared to a bed, let me be the first to say you were not anything like how she was describing." He told me. "Anyone could tell you are obviously a princess over a country girl."

I frowned at him. Well excuse me for looking nice and… bathing. When was the last time this guy had a bath?

"I'm Gajeel. Earth dragon tamer. Third year here." Gajeel said, introducing himself. "I saw you come in with the Shrimp, so any friend of hers is a friend of mine." He told me. I raised an eyebrow. Oh, well hello Mr. Levy's boyfriend, I can't wait to interrogate her tonight.

"So have you always been in the same class with all these people?" I asked him. There were quiet a number of characters in here. A boy who wasn't wearing a shirt, a girl who was practically drooling over him, Erza who was vigorously filling out paper work, some kid who kept yelling 'man', and a kid with bright pink hair who was asleep on his desk, plus a few others. And hey, if this guy could sleep in class, why couldn't I show up late?

Gajeel nodded. "Yeah. We're all about the same age too."

"So does everyone have a dragon?" I asked, curious. Again Gajeel nodded. I noticed that his hair seemed to bounce whenever he nodded. I wonder if he noticed that too. If I had hair like that, I'd probably play with it all the time and- wait, I should pay attention.

"Yup, all different types. You'll probably get to meet some today too. After school we train. Most people work together. Have you been sorted into an element yet?" Gajeel asked me.

I shook my head no. "Well, my dragon is an air dragon, but I don't know what it means to be sorted into an element." I told him honestly.

"Basically you'll work with other air dragons and their tamers. There aren't any others in this class, but there are a few below us. Plus you can always work with the Big Four." Gajeel said.

"Big four?" I asked him.

"There are these four 8th years, extremely talented tamers with even more powerful dragons. Each one has a different element. Basically, if anyone needs help or anything, we go to them. Nice people too." Gajeel explained. "You'd be working with MiraJane. If you've been with Master like I'm sure you have been, he's probably mentioned her."

I told him that yes, Master had mentioned her. I did another quick look around the class. Orlando seemed to have fallen asleep. Most of the students didn't even have a book open and just casually chatted with each other. "Is this normally what happens during class?" I asked Gajeel.

"You have a lot of questions, you know that?" Gajeel said and I just shrugged. "And only for Orlando's class. And most the time we do stuff. But sometimes, when she's in an especially bad mood, or hung over, this is all we do."

"Hung over? Its only Thursday!" I said incredulously.

Gajeel picked a piece of lint off of his pants. "Well, yeah but that's Minerva Orlando for ya." Suddenly a loud clamor of falling desks filled the room.

"Say that one more time Gray! I dare you!" The pink headed boy shouted. The boy on the other end of his wrath, Gray, was sitting in his desk, half naked, a bored expression on his face.

"I'm just saying Natsu, it's impossible for you and your fire dragon to win against Wendy and her air dragon. Heck, you'd probably lose to an earth dragon." Gray shot back. The pink haired boy fumed.

"Oh please! Igneel and I could take down anyone, even an air dragon! We're the strongest and fastest!" The boy boasted. "Why don't we go outside and I can show you!"

Gray scoffed. "Frost and I would run laps around you, and water dragons aren't even made for speed!"

Natsu smirked at him. "Yeah, the only thing water dragons are good for is for making ice cubes to go in my drink." He said. Gray slammed his hands on his desk and stood up, coming face to face with the other boy.

"Well at least my water dragon doesn't burn down buildings!" Gray shot back.

"That was one time! Why won't anyone let that go?" Natsu whinned.

"Because you two almost destroyed the school!" Gray said, shouting now. "If it wasn't for the Big Four then-"

"Oh come on, I'm just as strong as the Big Four, I could take down any one of them." Natsu said proudly. "Actually, Igneel and I could probably take down two at once."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Oh yes, please challenge Loke again. It worked out so well last time."

"It was one time!" Natsu cried again, his voice raising an octave. Ah. So this must be the reason why there were only four buildings and not five anymore. Behind the two arguing boys, I could see Erza fuming, her fist clenched and crumbling the papers she had been working on. Levy caught my eyes and rolled hers, before going back to her book.

"Everyone seems pretty calm about this crazy kid and a half naked kid screaming at each other." I observed.

"Yeah, this happens everyday. Gray makes a comment, Natsu reacts, and then back and forth and back and forth until… wait for it…" Gajeel trailed off. I looked at him questioningly until I heard yelling cut off into whimpers. I turned to see Erza holding Natsu and Gray by the top of their heads.

"How many times do we have to go through this?" She barked at the two of them. "Why can't you just get along?" Erza asked, banging their heads together. After earning a jumbled mess of apologizes from the two boys, she let them go and returned to her seat. Gray sent a glare Natsu's way and returned to his seat.

"Juvia thought that was very brave." I heard a girl whisper to Gray, but he ignored it. I recognized her as the girl who had been with the water dragons yesterday. She followed Gray's every move. Like a puppy.

"I think…. I think I've missed out on a lot." I said dejectedly and lowered my head to my desk.

"Gee-hee, don't worry, you'll get caught up soon enough." Gajeel said. By this time, most everyone was putting their books away. Funny cause it's not like anyone actually opened them. A few minutes later the bell rang. Before you could even had time to say 'lunch', all the students were up out of their chairs and clamoring to get out of the room, pushing past one another to get out and go to lunch.

"Lu-chan! You don't mind if I call you that, right?' Levy said, coming up to me. I shook my head no and she continued. "I'm going to go have lunch; do you want to come with me? I'm going to visit Libro in the stables."

"Sure, sounds nice. Then I can visit Celeste too." I agreed with her.

"Alright. Good thing the cafeteria is on the way to the stables then." Levy said as we walked down the hallway. "But it's almost all the way across campus from our dorm!" She complained.

"Well at least this way we wont be snacking at night?" I offered. She thought for a minute.

"That's true. They have amazing brownies, so it's a good thing they aren't in reach!" Levy said with a laugh. We continued chatting like this until we reached the cafeteria. Well it wasn't a cafeteria as much as a food court. There were all types of foods there, even kinds I had never heard of before! "People come from all over the world to train here, so they try to accommodate to everyone." Levy explained.

"Well, as long as they have pizza, I think I'll be happy!" I told Levy and she grinned.

"Well of course. But if you don't feel like making the trek over to the food court, there's also a kitchen in the dorms we can cook in. Now, do you have any more questions?" Levy asked me as we stood in line for food.

"Yeah, you and that Gajeel guy." I said and Levy turned bright red. "He seemed to mention something about 'a friend of Levy's is a friend of mine.'" I said, deepening my voice to imitate Gajeel.

"T-that's just Gajeel being friendly! He's a nice guy! Usually!" Levy said, stuttering through her words. I cut my eyes over to her.

"Uh huhhh. Alright then." I said, dropping it. I could get information out of her later. We would be living together for the next year. I had plenty of time to catch up on gossip.

"So have you heard anything about the races?" She asked me after we had gotten our food.

"Er… Master mentioned something races and events, but I really wasn't paying close attention. I was more focused on… not falling off a dragon." I responded. Levy snorted, choking on her drink.

"Sounds like you're not a big dragon rider." She said, coughing.

I handed her a napkin and she wiped herself off. "Nah. And drink much?" I teased.

She laughed at that. "Only sometimes. Now come on, I have to introduce you to Libro!" She exclaimed and we made our way out of the cafeteria. "Now he's usually a good boy, but sometimes he can be a little moody."

"Moody? I thought water dragons were affectionate?" I questioned.

"Well yeah, overall he is an affectionate thing, but he can be moody too." Levy told me. She opened the door to one of the bigger stables. "This is the seventh year stables. You'll probably have the one on the end. And remember Lu-chan, all dragons have their own personality. Although yes, water dragons are affectionate, you still have difference between dragons. It's like people." She clarified.

"Right, like people." I repeated. She led me over to a big blue dragon, probably twice the size of Celeste. "Oh my god Levy! He's humungous!" I said in awe.

Levy grinned proudly. "Yeah he's big. Strong too, except when he's in one of his moods. Then he just whines." On cue the dragon started a low, throaty whine. The big dragon was a dark shade of blue, with orange stripped markings on his legs. He nuzzled up to Levy's hand and in return she gave him a carrot. "He's a big plant eater. Carrots are his favorite."

"Is that why he's orange?" I teased.

Levy rolled her eyes. "Ha ha." She said sarcastically. "He's twenty-two years old. Like a teenager basically. I met him when I first came to school." She told me and Libro happily munched on his carrot. "Alright, well let's go meet your girl! We can move her into the empty stall too, since we have time." Levy suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." I agreed. We left the stalls and made our way to the smaller one where Celeste was (probably) still sleeping. On our way over we saw a boy holding what looked like a Frisbee and was playing with a small dragon. The dragon soared over his head and dove down to try and grab the Frisbee, but always missed.

"Romeo! Don't tease the poor thing!" Levy scolded the boy. He looked our way bashfully and hid the Frisbee behind his back. The small red dragon made a final dive for the Frisbee and snatched it from him.

"Hey! Flame! Give that back!" The boy shouted, chasing after what I assumed was a baby dragon. Levy laughed as the dragon now played keep away with the boy.

"That's Romeo. He's in year four and this is his first year too. Unlike you though, his dragons only a baby." Levy told me. "Recently hatched. Romeo just happened upon the egg with his dad and then the egg hatched and… well the rest is history." Wendy said with a wave of her hand.

"I didn't know you could have a baby dragon." I mused.

"Well, every trainer learns on their own dragon. It's just a different experience." Levy said. We said goodbye to Romeo, who still hadn't gotten the Frisbee back, and continued on our way to the other stables. Finally we got to the stables.

"Celeste! I'm back!" I announced to the stables. I heard creaking and then saw my dragon's head pop up from the stable. She grinned at me happily and her tail banged against the wooden frame. Now that it was light out I finally got to see Celeste in all her glory. Pure white with yellow markings around her eyes, feet, and tail. Small in stature, but built for speed, as far as I could tell. Levy whistled when she saw the dragon.

"Jeeze. She's beautiful." Levy said in awe and I felt my heart fill with pride. I felt like a mother.

"Yeah, she's gorgeous alright." I agreed. "But… She's a little unpredictable. I think she likes to tease me." I told her. Levy laughed at that and held out her hand to Celeste. To my surprise, instead of sniffing it like I expected, Celeste blew out air, pushing Levy back and away from her. "Celeste!" I cried. "Levy are you okay?" Levy wobbled slightly but gave me a thumbs up.

"I'm good. Luckily she's not a fire dragon, right?" Levy joked. "Guess she's not exactly a people person, er dragon, but that's okay, I'm used to it cause of Libro." She grabbed what looked like a halter off one of the hooks on the wall. "Here, she's probably not going to like it, but hook this on her head. The metal part goes in her mouth." Levy instructed me. "Since she's young and untrained, we can't just let her roam around expecting her to follow us." I slipped the lead over Celeste's head and silently thanked her for being compliant.

"Is this right?" I double checked. Levy nodded and opened the stable door.

"Yeah, looks right. Hold her tight. Actually you may want to ride her, just so you have full control. We have time, and I could teach you basics for mounting if you want." Levy offered. I gulped and looked between them. It would be nice to learn how to actually ride Celeste, but actually riding my dragon seemed like an impossible feat. Levy seemed to acknowledge my look of apprehension. "Or if you want, we could ask one of air dragon tamers to help. That way if something goes wrong, they could help calm Celeste?" She asked.

"Yeah, that sounds safer. Not that I don't trust you, it's her I'm worried about." I told her and ruffled Celeste's spikes. She blew out a breathe and walked forward, pulling me along. "I guess that means we're going!" I called over my shoulder. Levy laughed and ran to catch up.

"Goodness! She's fast when she's walking! I bet she's even fast than Grandine!" Levy told me, wide eyed.

"Grandine?" I asked.

"One of the fastest dragons on campus. Her trainer is a little 4th year girl. Sweet thing, but practically unbeatable in races." Levy updated me. "Hey! Once you get going on Celeste, you should enter races!" She said excitedly. I immediately shook my head.

"Oh no. I'm already not loving the whole being around dragons 24/7, no way am I going to do something dangerous like that!" I told her sternly.

Levy made a face. "Oh come on, there's only been like one death, and that was almost twenty years ago! Plus it was the trainer's fault! I'm sure if you practiced everything would be fine and you'd kick some butt!"

"Levy, I'm not doing that." I said seriously. By this time we had gotten to the bigger stables. Levy humphed and crossed her arms, but didn't press the matter. Walking inside we saw there was one open slot.

"Oh this will be good for Celeste." Levy observed. "She's next to Aqua, a water dragon with a sweet temperament. They'll get along fine." She checked the name plate of the dragon across since the owner had taken it out. "And Igneel's here. I'm sure that should work out fine. Air and fire dragons usually co-exist well." Levy shook her head. "But oh, put a fire with a fire and they'll be hell to pay."

I laughed. "Thanks for that lesson professor Levy." I joked. "So it's good for Celeste to be here? This stall doesn't belong to anyone?"

Levy shook her head no. "Nope, these stalls are for 7th year dragons only. Our whole class is here, kinda like a… bonding thing? I don't really know. They want us to be close I guess." She shrugged. "You get to see the real side of people when their with their dragons."

I hmmed. Celeste walked into her stall and watched me expectantly. She tilted her head to the side and opened her mouth. Her tongue lolled out to the side and she stared. I snorted. "Oh real lady like Cel."

"Have you learned how to groom a dragon yet?" Levy asked, elbows propped up on the stall door. I looked at her, exasperated.

"Levy-chan! I haven't learned anything yet!" I whined to her. She laughed and walked away towards a box hanging near the door. She came back with a few supplies; a hard wired brush, a towel, and a few other things.

"Alright. Well, allow me to teach you!" She handed me the towel. "First, it's always important to wipe down your dragon first. After a day of flying around, their probably sweaty and dirty, so this is a fast way of getting some of the filth off." I did as she instructed, wiping Celeste down from top to bottom. Celeste started squirming once I hit her underside. "Oh, she must be ticklish!" Levy said laughing.

"Alright, next you need to take this spike brush-" She handed me what looked like a enlarged, longer version of a tooth brush, "-and go in between her spikes. It's kinda like flossing, but dragon form." Levy said next.

"What's the point of this?" I asked her curiously.

"Uh, it's kinda like washing between your toes. Dragons don't have very sensitive skin, but if too much bacteria builds up, they can still get sick and get infections." Levy informed me. "Alright next is the scales brush. This is basically what is sounds like. Just give her a once over scrub with this and your done. I usually only do this once a week." After following her instructions, she nodded, content. "Alright, that's basically it for grooming. Each type of dragon has a different kind of maintenance but air dragons are relatively simple." She made a face. "Unfortunately, my water dragon that is almost always damp because of something, requires a lot more." Levy did a quick look at her watch. "It's 11:30, do you want to start walking back towards the classrooms?"

"Sure. What class is next?" I asked her. Levy grinned evily.

"Oh, only Erza's favorite class- and make sure to ask her why by the way- but it's dragon care. Basically more in depth of what I just taught you." Levy told me. I looked at her questioningly. "Trust me, you'll see why."

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And during that class I learned, that even the most level headed, cool girl can turn into a babbling idiot in front of the guy she liked.

Mr. Jellal Fernandez, twenty four years old, dragon tamer extraordinar, alumni of DTS, and a first year teacher was the heart throb of many teenage girls. Oblivious to all their advances, even I could see that he and Erza Scarlet had some kind of thing between them. What though, I was exactly sure yet.

It was obvious almost five minutes into dragon care class when either made eye contact with one another, a blush would spread across their faces. And of course when Mr. Fernandez asked her to read aloud, the mighty and confident Erza barley managed to stumble and stutter her way through the passage. I would definitely have to reread the difference between spiked tails and thronged tails tonight along with my homework.

Either no one in this class noticed this exchange other than me, or they were all used to it. At some point, I just gave up on following the exchange and tried focusing on what was being taught. After about thirty minutes of lecturing, Mr. Fernandez assigned us pages to read.

"Lucy, will you come here for a few minutes?" I heard Mr. Fernandez say from his desk. I rolled my eyes as someone, a boy, 'oooohhed' and walked up to his desk.

"What's up, Mr. Fernandez?" I asked and he chuckled.

"Oh please Lucy, this class is much more informal than the others. Call me Jellal, everyone does." He said, a kind smile on his face. I nodded my head and he continued. "I'm sure you've heard about the races and events our school has to offer, haven't you?" Jellal asked me.

"Yes, I have, but I don't plan on taking part." I told him seriously.

He smiled warmly. "Well, yes, you don't have to participate in the weekly races or anything like that, but we do have an event that all students have to participate in, aka, it's mandatory." My palms went clammy and I rubbed them on my skirt. "At the end of every trimester, we have and inter-house challenge. You will be partnered with someone in this class, or one of the 8th years and then compete in a series of challenges."

"Look, Jellal-" I started. His smile, looking a little more chilling than before stopped me. I twisted a strand of my hair, and changed my approach. Guys always fell for the innocent act. "I'm just… nervous." I did my best to sound cute. "I can't even ride a dragon, whoever has the misfortune of partnering with me would just end up losing and I don't want to disappoint anyone like that." Unfortunetly, his smile just widened, his eyes creasing at the sides.

"Oh! I'm glad you think that way! I was planning on partnering you with one of the 8th years! That way he or she can walk you through everything and train you better! You can learn from them!" He said excitedly. I sighed in defeat.

"There's no way I can get out of this, is there?" I asked, annoyed.

"Sorry, nope." He shot back. "Anyways, I just wanted you to be aware. The list will go up tomorrow morning, so be prepared. You'll have the weekend to work and get to know your partner. You can go back to your seat now." He finished, with a flourish of his hand. I trudged back to my seat to see a smirking Gajeel.

"So the princess doesn't always get what she wants?" He said slyly.

I crossed my arms on my desk and laid my head down, roughly for good measure. "Shut up." I grumbled back. I was screwed.

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As it turned out, my fourth period class was taught by the man who so rudely woke me up this morning and the Master's grandson, Laxus Dreyar. A very authoritarian man, he commanded the attention of everyone in the room, even the most rambunctious boys. It was a nice change from the loud, fighting group from before. The down side was he actually made us do work. And being a new student didn't exempt me from tomorrows quiz.

"This is so much work! And it's only my first day!" I complained to Levy once we were back in our dorm rooms. Levy was sprawled out on her bed, holding a book high above her head.

"Oh don't worry, it gets worse once it gets closer to the competition dates." Levy responded, her voice level. I was laying on my bed too, stomach down with my head propped up by my hands. I held a pencil in my mouth, trying to entertain myself while looking for important terms to underline.

"So does this competion have a name or is it just 'the events?'" I asked her. She looked up in thought.

"Uhh…" She started. "I'm sure it has some kind of formal name, but we all just call it the DTS Cup, or just The Cup." I slammed my book shut, I couldn't take any more of this, and I loved to read!

"So how exactly does this work?" I asked Levy.

"Uh, there are different challenges. Races, battles, games, talented based competitions, things like that. You earn points based on how well you do. If you do badly, you can get kicked out. Whoever has the most points at the end, wins a great award. It changes every year, but last year it was a scholarship to a DTS school across the ocean! I don't remember which one though. Something foreign." She said with a shrug. "And it's different the higher house up you are. The younger kids in the Mermaid house get smaller rewards, like private lessons with Laxus while the upper house, Fairy, gets things like the scholarship." She finally turned over and looked at me, her brows furrowed. "You ask a lot of questions, you know that right?"

I giggled into my arms. "You know, Gajeel said that to me today too." I sat up in bed and swung my feet over so that they touched the floor. "Speaking of Gajeel, who do you want for your partner?" I asked her. Levy turned bright red. It was so easy to make her blush.

"Gajeel has nothing to do with that!" She sputtered. "And like anyone else, I want one of the Big Four!" Levy said defesivley. I shyly raised my hand, another question ready. She sighed. "Yes, Lu-chan?"

"So who exactly are the Big Four? I know they're a big deal, but who are they." I asked her.

"There's always a Big Four in the 8th year. They're in charge of helping the younger grades and they're the leader of their respective element. This year's Big Four is kind of a big deal because all of them are extremely powerful, not just one or two." Levy explained.

"So is that why our class fights so much? Because they all want to be apart of the Big Four next year?" I questioned.

Levy scoffed. "No, that's just our class being full of idiots. Alright, but back to this year's Big Four. First you have Lyon Vastia and his water dragon Sleet. Sleets still a young dragon, but really powerful already, and will continue to get stronger. Next are Loke Leo and the fire dragon Regulus. Regulus is one of the oldest dragons here, actually I think only Mavis is older." Levy said thoughtfully. "Moving on is MiraJane Strauss and the air dragon Lucifer. Why an air dragon is named Lucifer, I don't really know, but he has incredible strength, which is uncommon for an air dragon. Finally you have Cana Alberona and the ground dragon Joker. I don't really know much about Cana. I've never really heard anything that makes her stand out as a tamer, but Joker is the largest dragon in the area, and his size alone terrifies all the other dragons into submission." Levy finished. My head spun from the impromptu history lesson.

"I wish I knew what they looked like… They sound like people to avoid." I said, a little frightened. Levy laughed.

"Oh no! None of them are more terrifying than Erza." She said positively. "Although… You really haven't seen the scary side of Erza." Levy added. She got up and turned off the light over her bed. "And before you ask me about Erza and Jellal, I'm going to bed!" I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to ask about Erza and Jellal… tonight.

"Night Levy." I said, turning off my own light. "Goodnight to you too Celeste." I whispered into my pillow. I knew she would know I was thinking about her, and I hoped that would help her sleep well tonight.

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The next morning, everyone was tense. I could tell it was going to be a long walk to class. Getting dressed, Levy would barley say a word to me. Her fingers shook as she tried to put on a pair of knee high socks to go with our uniform.

"That's different." I observed from my spot on the bed.

"It's tradition." Levy responded. When I opened my mouth to ask another question she sighed and continued. "I don't know why we do it, but before every big... event, girls wear knee highs. Like for good luck or something like that." She took out another pair and tossed them to me. "You do it too." She ordered.

"How come? I don't really know enough to know if its good or bad." I argued but she rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Lu-chan." She said childishly. "Don't be a party pooper." I grinned and slid on the socks. Well, I could practically pull off anything so it wasn't that big a deal. Not orange though. But to be fair, nobody looked good in orange.

We left our dorm room a few minutes later and did the ten minute walk to class in silence. Even the younger girls who usually skipped to class and sang noisily walked slowly, whispering things to one another.

"If this happens three times a year, why do people get so worked up about it like it's a once in a life time thing?" I asked Levy.

"You know, I'm going to limit you to three questions a day from now on. That was number one." Levy said. "And it gives us more time to spend with our dragons."

"Oh, so this is a dragon training school that doesn't let you spend time with dragons?" I joked.

"I'm counting that as a question." Levy deadpanned. Soon we got to the door of the classroom. I heard a boy comment on how he 'loved knee high days' and rolled my eyes. Typical boy.

At eight o'clock on the dot, every one was in their seats, waiting for Mr. Lates to come in. Everyone was making nervous eye contact with one another, and finally, Mr. Lates, along with the small 8th year class shuffled in. Mr. Lates took his place at the front desk.

"Good morning everyone, now I know that you all are so anxiously waiting to start today's history lesson-" cue groans from the class "- but that's going to be put on hold for a few minutes." He said with a grin. "In my hand I hold the partners for the first of the DTS Cups! I'm going to tape it up on the board here, back away, and all will come up and find your name- in an orderly fashion!" He added quickly.

After what seemed like an eternity, he taped the paper to the board and then leaped back from it. And good thing he did, because before you could even blink, almost the entire room had flooded the front half of the room. I blinked in surprise and looked towards Gajeel, who shrugged.

"Shall we?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I'm afraid of being trambled." I said with a nervous laugh. He rolled his eyes.

"Alright, well I'm going." Gajeel said as he stood up. I sat at my desk for a few more minutes, watching the reactions of others.

"What the hell is this?" A voiced screamed. "Why am I with the ice princess?"

"Well it's not like I want to be with you either!" Another voice yelled back. I sweat dropped, it must be those two boys from yesterday.

Finally, when a path was semi-cleared, I decided to go check out my name. My eyes scanned down the list until I cam across my name. Next to it was the word air, and then my partner's name.

Cana Alberona, earth.

I blinked. It still said Cana Alberona. So I blinked again, but nothing changed. I was with one of the Big Four. I was going to cause one of the Big Four to lose and they were going to kill me. I backed up away from the board. In the middle of my mental breakdown, I didn't realize I backed into someone.

"Hey! Watch it blondie!" A guy yelled. I spun around, preparing to apologize when another person grabbed my arm and yanked me away from the dude.

"Trust me, you don't want to stick around for that. Lyon's pissed enough. I'm doing you a favor." A girl with long brown hair said. "I'm Cana by the way, nice to meet you, partner." She said with a grin on her face. From Levy's speed lesson last night I remembered that Lyon was one of the Four and specialized in water. Cana, my partner, was ground.

"Uh, Lucy!" I told her quickly, as we struggled to get away from the mob.

She laughed good naturedly. "Yeah, I know. You're kind of a big deal. Its not every day a seventeen year old becomes a brand new air dragon trainer. And the whole transfer student thing but that's beside the point." Her laughing face turned serious. "How early do you wake up?" She asked me.

"Um… 7?" I responded.

"Okay, great, then meet me in the back field behind stable two tomorrow at 7:30." She said as she hurried out of the room. "I won't tolerate lateness so you better show up on time!" She called over her shoulder. I bit my lip. Oh no, what was this school getting me into?!

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**Author's Note: Long chapter yaaaay! I just got so excited, and so I wrote this! Next chapter will be some NaLu! I wanted to include it in this but... Ah it would have been so much longer. Haha this bit of Nalu is the first thing I wrote in this story, before I even had a plot figured out!**

**Well I hope you enjoyed! I introduced a lot of characters this chapter plus their dragons! I'm sorry if its difficult to follow! I really dislike stories that have a lot of OCs cause it just gets so hard to follow... but now I feel like a hypocrite because even though they aren't people... their still kinda OCs... oops...**

**After I get more characters solidified, I will post characters, their years, and their dragons. And please don't be upset if your favorite character isn't in this yet! Most likely they are in a lower year, but don't worry! They will come in time!**

**Anyways, that's all I have to say about that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading! I can't wait to read your reviews! If you have any ideas, I still need dragon names for: Chelia, Hibiki, Flare, Jellal, Freed, Milliana, and Master Bob. (That's like the most random bunch of characters, haha oops.) See you next time!**

**and on a side note... DID ANYONE SEE THE TWEET?! I'M SO NERVOUS/EXCITED/TERRIFIED FOR TOMORROW'S NEW FAIRY TAIL CHAPTER!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Do you ever just have like a billion songs stuck in your head? Because I do.**

**Well I'm glad that everyone likes the story so far! I love your reviews! That make me so excited. It's time for chapter 3! Who knows what will happen!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail**

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I practically crawled out of bed at quarter to seven. Levy grumbled when I turned on the light, but other than that, the morning was going smoothly. I showed up at Celeste's stall door almost a half hour later and she cried about being woken up. Which set a few of the other dragons off, of course. After unsuccessfully sneaking out of the stables with Celeste, we wandered around till we got to the second stables. I double checked Celeste's mouth harness. I didn't want her to attack or something since this would be her first time with another dragon while I was there

Even though we were five minutes early, Cana was standing there, tapping her foot. "I thought you'd never show up!" She complained as we walked up.

"I'm still early!" I argued back. She huffed but said nothing else. "Where's your dragon?" I asked her.

"He's still out in the woods. We have to go find him. Don't worry though. It wont be hard." She said with a grin. "So how fast can she go?" Cana asked, referring to Celeste.

"Uh… I'm not sure. I've only ridden her once, and it was a near death experience." I shuddered at the memory.

"Shut up." Cana said. "You have a speed type dragon, and you haven't tested her out?" She said incredulously. I shook my head no. "Well, I guess that's what we'll start out with." She did a quick circle around Celeste. Cana was wearing a pair of old blue jeans, with a black t shirt thrown over top. I had decided to get into the air tamer spirit, wearing a pair of yellow shorts and a white tank top. Cana didn't comment on clothes and I didn't feel the need to. Maybe it wasn't as important to tamers as Virgo had told me.

"Alright." Cana said, snapping me from my fashion thoughts. "Since she's small, you can probably just hop on, holding onto her neck for support. Be mindful of the base of the wings. They don't usually like that being grabbed." Cana instructed me. She watched me impatiently. "Are you not going to get on?" She asked when I still hadn't moved.

"Okay can we be a hundred percent honest with each other?" I asked her and Cana nodded hesitantly. "So, I'm not exactly… okay with dragons and the whole riding and flying part. And heights really aren't my strong suit either." I added. Cana's face fell. She fell to her knees comically, but still managed to seem distraught.

"You're kidding me right? What kind of dragon tamer doesn't like dragons? Or heights?!" She practically wailed. "It's my last year, and, and I'm stuck with you!" She accused. She got up off her knees and began to pace. "Do you know how much I've worked for this? All of the others in the Big Four have won a Cup, I'm the only one who hasn't! If I don't win this…!" She swallowed hard and shook her head. After taking a few deep breathes, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and then sat on the ground. I watched her, confused. She patted the ground beside her, and gestured me to come over. I did so cautiously.

"Alright. My name is Cana." She started slowly. "I've been with my dragon Joker since I was eight. I know that's a little early for a kid, but my dad was a bit of a softy." She said as she pulled out a piece of grass and began playing with it. "I'm nineteen now. Joker is… um in his thirties I think. Somewhere around there. I'm not a very good tamer, not like Mira. The only reason I'm part of the Big Four is because of Joker." She said dejectedly. She looked up and finally made eye contact me. "Master has also said to me, that if I cannot prove that I can control Joker 100%, he will be taken away from me. That's why I really need to win this competition. My dads going to be there too. I need to prove to myself, others, and my family that I'm a strong tamer. Not only that, but to keep my best friend." She finished. She shot me a half hearted grin. "Your turn."

"Uh… I'm Lucy. Celeste and I have been together since… two days ago." I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "My dad sent me this school to basically get rid of me. I think part of him expected me to get eaten by a dragon, and if that didn't happen, he could brag to his friends about his tamer daughter." Cana 'ahhed' and leaned back in the grass.

"So you want to do badly in order to spite daddy?" She asked me.

"No, yes? I don't know what I want yet." I looked over at Celeste who was scratching her back against a tree. "I want to form a connection with that dragon, but I'm afraid." I pulled my knees up against my chest. "So many things could go wrong."

"So many things could go right too." Cana said and then jumped to her feet. "Alright Lucy, let's make a deal. The DTS Cup doesn't start for another month. If, in that month I can make you feel safe and secure being with Celeste, you put your heart on the line and do your best in the Cup. And if you feel even a little bit of doubt and fear, then I wont be angry if you quit on me." Cana said confidently. She held out her hand. "What do you say? Is it a deal?"

I looked at the hand. It wasn't a bad idea. I did want to be comfortable with Celeste. I just didn't know how yet. I took her hand. "Deal."

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That afternoon, Cana taught me how to saddle and rein Celeste. She said that most tamer's preferred saddles because it was comfier, but also so they could store things. She said it would ultimately be my decision on whether or not I wanted to use a saddle, but for practice sake, we would. The saddle we used was small and fit right above Celeste's wings. Cana said that for the Cup we should order her a properly sized saddle. Next were the reins. It was basically like the lead I was using, but double sided and had plastic grips. I picked a yellow pair since it matched Celeste's coloring the best.

After making sure I could properly put on and take off the saddle and reins, Cana had me mount Celeste. At first I was terrified. I mean, what was stopping her from taking off before I had the chance to get off? After Cana's nudging I finally managed to climb on Celeste, not very gracefully, but still on. Once I jumped too far across and ended up falling off the other side. Both Cana and Celeste laughed at me for that.

At the two hour mark, Cana said we should rest for today. She didn't want Celeste getting too bored of just getting on and off and then walking in circles. We made plans to meet tomorrow, same time and place. Cana said she would make sure to bring Joker and we could try walking in different landscapes. She told me flying could wait another week or so. I could have kissed her; I was not ready for flying yet. We said our good byes and Celeste and I made our way to the stalls.

I stood inside the stall, taking off the saddle and reins, when the pink haired boy from my class sauntered in, whistling. He stopped at the stall across from ours and happily greeted the dragon. He unlatched his stalls door and led the brilliant red dragon out into the middle of the walkway. He hooked his dragon's lead to a hook to make sure it wouldn't wander off. I ducked below the rim of Celeste's stall. I could do without the conversation for now. After about five minutes, the whistling stopped. I looked up questioningly only to come face to face with the pink haired boy. He had leaned over Celeste's stall and was grinning at me.

"Are you going to hid all morning?" He asked cheerfully, his face only a few inches away from mine. I shot Celeste a look of betrayal. She should have warned me or something.

"Nope! I was just taking a break!" I assured him and stood up.

The boy grinned even wider and then went back to his dragon. "You see Igneel? These ladies have been working hard all morning, and you've barely woken up! Do you know what time it is?" He scolded the dragon. Igneel simply made a throaty sound and shifted his weight.

I rubbed my hand down Celeste's snout, and she huffed happily in response, eyes rolling back. I grinned at my girl, but kept an eye trained on the pink haired boy with the red beast of a dragon across from us. He whistled happily as he washed the dragon down, drawling small circles on its firey scales. He shared some joke with the dragon, and they laughed in response. Finally he caught me starring and grinned.

"So you're partners with Cana?" He asked me, directing he attention to me. The red dragon nudged his arm impatiently, but he waved it off. "That's pretty lucky. She's been flying for some time now, longer than I have." He mused. I nodded, dimly aware of his lame attempt at conversation. "Unfortunately I'm stuck with Gray." Gray, that was the stripper boy Juvia was obsessed with.

"So that means you've been riding a while then?" I asked him, ignoring the Gray bit. I really didn't care about their problems. I slid Celeste's saddle off and her spikes immediately popped up and fell into place. She shook her body like a dog drying off after a swim.

"Yeah. Igneel here was a present from my parents when I was a kid. We've basically grown up together." He said and dragon, Igneel, broke off into a deep throaty laugher. A shiver went down my spin and I blanched. No need to be afraid Lucy. You're safe here. I reached out a hand to stroke my beautiful, white dragon whom in turn leaned into my touch. "You and your dragon seem pretty connected though. Didn't realize it was your first time with a dragon."

I nodded stiffly. "Yeah. Who'd have thought?" I said, thinking back to my near death experience. When I slept at night, I would almost relive the experience of falling off, down through the clouds. Although those times, there was no dragon there to save me and instead I crashed onto the ground. Celeste yawned noisily, stretching and popping her scales as she did so. She gave me a bored look and I took the hint. "Well I should probably get her back to practice so if you don't mind…" I drawled.

"Natsu, it's Natsu." He said without skipping a beat. He and his dragon, Igneel, wore matching, expecting grins. I made a feeble attempt to grin back, but otherwise attempted to slide past them. Although, sliding past is a lot easier without an eight foot dragon lumbering beside you. "Make sure you look for me tomorrow during the races! Igneel and I are going to kick butt!" He said with a fist pump.

"Didn't realize fire dragons were racing types." I told him as Celeste walked ahead of me. He shrugged in response.

"They really aren't. Not like air types, but what can you do?" He went back to washing Igneel's scales. "I lost a bet with Gray and he thinks I'm gonna get my ass handed to me by Wendy, but Igneel and I are going to prove him wrong, aren't we buddy?" The dragon reared up on his hind legs and I shot back, banging my head on the door frame. "Easy, easy!" He said laughing. "Sorry, we're both a little excitable!"

"I can tell." I said, adding my own little pathetic laugh. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go… um…" I searched my mind for something, anything that could get me out of this conversation. "Help Celeste with wing exercises."

"I used to do it too you know." Natsu called after me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around, confused. "Sleeping with my dragon." He added bashfully. "In my first year, it was my first real time away from home and I got freaked out. For every night for the first few months, I would come out here and curl up under Igneel's wing." He lovingly patted the dragon's head. "I'm a little big now, but every now and again I come out here to sleep."

"Do you get yelled at like I did?" I asked him curiously.

"Only when I get caught!" He said proudly. He unhooked Igneel from the wall. He walked out of the stables and Igneel followed him willingly, with no lead or anything. Celeste seemed to realize my alarm because she separated us with her body. "She's pretty protective." Natsu observed.

"Yeah well, I need to be protected most of the time. I'm a bit of a klutz. And I ask a lot of questions." I added, with a frown. Natsu looked me and Celeste over once and then nodded his head, like he had made an important decision.

"Come flying with me!" He declared. "I want to see how fast this protective air dragon can go!" I shook my head rapidly.

"Sorry, maybe some other time." I responded.

"Oh come on Luigi!" He whined.

"Excuse me? Luigi?" I questioned, hands on my hips, glaring at the boy.

"Isn't that your name? I thought I heard Jellal call you that." He said, scratching his nose.

"No! It's Lucy! Get it right!" I ordered him. He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Okay! Okay Lucy! If you don't want to fly your dragon with me, then can I watch at least?" He asked. "I just really want to see what she can do! We don't have any air dragons in our class so theirs no one to really observe."

I shook my head. "Nope, sorry. No free views or rides today." I told him strictly.

"Aw come on Luce!" He whined. "I wanna see!" He dropped down onto his knees. "See look! I'll beg! Do you want me to beg? Look at me begging here!" The boy pleaded. I bit my lip trying not to smile. Did this guy care at all that he was out in public?

"Natsu, what the hell do you think you're doing in front of our gorgeous new student?" I heard a silky voice say from behind me. Natsu made a grimace.

"Hey Loke." He muttered. Loke, the fire dragon tamer of the Big Four. Loke walked around me and yanked Natsu up so he was no longer on the ground. Igneel sat down on his hind quarters and laughed, watching the show.

"If you're trying to impress a lady, allow me." He said. Loke was a tall man who dressed nice, in expensive suits. If it wasn't for Levy's Big Four lesson, I would have thought he was a teacher. "Ms. Heartfillia." He said flirtatiously, adding a bow. "My name is Loke Leo. A pleasure to meet you." He grabbed my hand and kissed it. I could see Natsu roll his eyes from behind Loke.

"Yeah, okay, but I wasn't trying to flirt with her." Natsu pointed out, arms crossed. Unlike Loke, Natsu was wearing a red tank top, with a pair of cargo shorts. He had a scarf wrapped around his head like a bandana. He looked totally different from the boy in class yesterday. More… wild.

"Yes well… whatever you were doing, obviously had the negative effect." Loke said smugly. "Come, Lucy. Allow me to give you a tour of the grounds." Loke grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. At that time, Celeste noticed the stranger grab me and growled feriouslesly. She roared and charged towards the two of us.

I froze, but luckily Loke pushed me to the side and Natsu caught me, and we fell together. Natsu buffered the impact of the ground, but I think I kneed him pretty hard in the stomach judging by his 'ouch!' Igneel had acted fast and separated us from the attacking dragon. I quickly squirmed out of Natsu's accidental embrace to watch over Igneel. Celeste was attacking a person!

Loke seemed almost bored in the face of the charging dragon. He held his hand out, palm down and extended his thumb and two fingers. With his other hand he took out a whistle and blew a few notes into it. I don't really know what he did, but it stopped Celeste in her tracks. She stopped inches away from Loke and then nudged his hand with her head. He laughed and then ruffled the dragons ears.

"It's alright now Igneel. You can let them pass." He called out. Igneel moaned and then walked forward, creating a path for me to get to Celeste.

"I could have done that too." Natsu muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"What was that?!" I asked, amazing. I had never seen anyone subdue an attacking dragon. Much less with a whistle! Loke flick his hair back with his hand.

"It's simple really. All dragons have a signature call. If you can emulate that call, it's easy to capture their attention. And they also pay attention to hand gestures." Loke told me. "This kind of whistle is the best kind for mirroring an air dragon." He grabbed my hand and put the whistle in it with the other. "A gift." He told me simply, flashing a smile.

"But what if you need it?" I argued. I couldn't just accept this guys belongings!

"I have extra. A good tamer is always prepared." Loke said smiling at me. He looked over my shoulder at Natsu. "You better keep that in mind if you ever want to be apart of the Big Four. But in your case, I'd keep a fire extinguisher on hand." He said snidely.

I palmed the whistle in my hand. It was metallic and small, about the size of my thumb, it had two openings on it to cover to make different notes.

"And be careful who you're around when you are with your dragon. She is very protective." He winked. "So basically, make sure she's not around whenever I take you on a date." Loke added.

"Alright! That's enough! Stop hitting on my classmate. Go find one of your little playmates." Natsu butted in.

"I'm sorry Natsu; I just can't help it that I'm good with women and a powerful tamer." He scanned Natsu over. "I'd say you'll understand someday, but I'm not even sure you know what a woman is."

Natsu was fuming, it seemed pretty easy to make him mad. "If we weren't on school property, I'd kick your a-"

"How about you save it for the Cup? You're always so eager to beat me, so why don't you prove it. You have a water tamer on your side, while I have earth. It's a pretty equal match." Loke taunted. Natsu's anger turned into confidence.

"Alright! It sounds like a plan! I'll take you down so fast you wont know what hit you!" He exclaimed. Loke rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure." He deadpanned. He turned his attention back to me.

"Now, Cana has told me about your predicament. If you ever want to learn more about dragon behavior and attitudes, please do not hesitate to come to me." He smirked. "It's my specialty." He said and then turned on his heel. "I'll see you two later." He added walking away.

"It's my specialty." Natsu mocked, hands on his hips. "Bleh! As if! So he knows how to blow a whistle. Big woop!" Natsu scoffed. I burst out laughing at his reaction. "What! It's not funny! Loke's just a stuck up flirt who doesn't know when to shut up."

I wiped a tear from my eye. "True, but if hadn't been for him, we would have been dragon food."

"If it wasn't for him, Celeste never would have charged. I wouldn't have grabbed you like he had." Natsu countered. I shrugged. He had a point.

"So what predicament was he talking about?" Natsu asked, but I shook my head. No way was I telling him. "Do you have a rash somewhere? Cause Gray had one of those once and it was not pretty."

"Ew! I don't want to know that!" I shouted and covered my ears. "And no! I don't! And I really don't want to know about other people's bodily problems either please!" Natsu shrugged.

"Alright then." He said and the topic was forgotten. "Hey, so we're having a party slash get together tonight in the boys dorms. In order to celebrate Cup pairings. You in?" Natsu asked me. We were on our way to the practice arena. Not sure what we were practicing though.

"Are girls allowed in the guy dorms?" I asked, raising an eye brow.

"Yeah, well not in the bedrooms, but in like the common rooms anyone can be there till midnight." Natsu told me. He unlocked the gate to the practice arena and ushered Celeste and I through.

"Alright, maybe. If Levy is going." I told him. He snorted.

"Oh don't bother. She'll be attached to Gajeel all night. You're better off coming along and making friends." I perked up at that.

"Alright so what exactly are Gajeel and Levy? She wont tell me!" I fumed.

"She won't tell? They've been dating in 'secret' for almost a year now." He said, throwing up air quotes. "But I mean, its secret in the same way that we don't know that Mira and Laxus have been hooking up on and off for the past couple years." Natsu said.

"Hey! Language. And don't just gossip about people! It isn't nice!" I scolded. Natsu grinned at me.

"Well maybe I'm not very nice!" He shot back. I put a hand on my hip.

"Oh really? The boy with rosy pink hair isn't very nice?" I asked him.

"It's salmon! S-A-L-M-O-N! Not pink! And salmons a pretty bad color! It's the color of… fish! And fish are delicious! Right Igneel?" Igneel simply blew out a puff of smoke, ignoring its hysterical owner.

"Okay, it's salmon." I told him and then grinned slyly. "By the way, if Loke ever does take me out on a date, will you tell him I like my roses salmon colored?" I joked and he face palmed.

Well on the bright side, at least I made a new friend.

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"So what exactly does one wear to a party like this?" I asked Levy as I riffled through my drawers.

"Um, a dress is always nice? Not too dressy I suppose." Levy said. She was in the process of brushing out her short blue hair. "Well, most girls do because things like this almost always turn into a date night. Romantic dragon ride and what not." She said with a shrug. I couldn't help but notice that Levy was wearing a short navy blue dress.

"So can I wear a dress? Or will people be like, 'oh look, it's that skanky new student looking for a boyfriend?'" I said, trying my best to imitate what I thought a popular girl would sound like. Though most of the girls here we're pretty nice. Well, with the exception of one teacher...

"Nah, I think it'd be fine. This can be your big debut into the DTS world!" Levy said, adding a squeal. "Oh this will be so fun! I'm glad you ran into Natsu and he told you about it!" I had told Levy everything about today, from Cana, to Loke and the whistle, and Natsu too.

I pulled out a white skirt from my drawer. Well, skirt worked too. I matched it with a blue t-shirt. There, dressy, but not too dressy. I tied my hair into a ponytail. I always loved the way a ponytail swished across my back.

"Alright, well I'm ready whenever you are." I told Levy, who was putting on a bit of make up. Oh yeah. She was defiantly going to have a date night.

"Alright, give me a few more seconds and…. Okay! I'm done!" She said. She grabbed a small purse off her bed and then opened the door. "After you, my fair Lu-chan." Levy said, adding a graceful bow.

When we were leaving the dorm, we ran into Erza. She waved and we ran to catch up with her. "Are you two heading to the gathering too?" She asked us and we told her we were.

"Although at some point, I think I'm going to go fly off and investigate one of the brooks. Juvia told me that at night, there's an algae that makes it glow." Levy told us, a blush spread across her face. "I think Libro would love to see it!" Erza shot her a knowing smile that went unnoticed by the shorted blunette.

"Well, draw a picture for us to see!" I told her. She was definitely going with Gajeel. No doubt. After talking more about the glowing algae, we arrived at the boy's dorm. An underclass guy whose name I didn't know was walking out as we walked in, looking sick.

"Oh that's never a good thing." Levy said with a sigh. When we walked in, it was majority boys still. To be fair, we were early. In order to entertain themselves, the boys decided to play 'what can we find in the cupboard to combined and drink?' We walked in to see Gray about to swallow a bright green concoction of…. Something.

"I'll never understand boys." Erza deadpanned.

Gajeel noticed us come in and walked over, weaving through a crowd of cheering guys. "Hey Shrimp, Lucy, Scarlet." He said in greeting. "You walked in at a great time. Elfmans already thrown up twice, screaming about how he's too much of a man to say no." Gajeel shook his head. "Please stop them Erza." He said as the sound of chanting filled the room.

"My pleasure…" Erza muttered before she started verbally attacking the group of boys. While Erza was distracted, I noticed Gajeel and Levy slip out the door. Dangit. I did lose my party buddy. I sighed and walked down the hall. If this was anything like our dorm, then there would be a matching common room on the other side. Hopefully it would be a little quieter.

I ran my fingers across the wall as I walked. I couldn't think of life back at home. I wonder how the staff was. Was father treating them right? Or were they getting enough time off? I sighed heavily. I had only been gone for three days, how would I make it another few years? Well I could go back for Christmas vacation and what not...

"Get it together Lucy, you were planning on running away anyways one of these days." I said allowed. A few seconds later, a pink head popped out of door frame of the room I was next to.

"Who's running away?" Natsu asked me.

"Thanks for eavesdropping." I said sarcastically. Natsu leaned against the door frame. He had changed into a pair of jeans with a black t-shirt. This time the scarf was wrapped around his waist like a belt.

"Hey my door was opened. You just decided to talk in front of it." He craned his neck around the door frame. "The party start yet?" He asked.

"Maybe? I don't know. A bunch of guys are drinking weird stuff. Erza's yelling at them now." I told him. He gave a low whistle.

"Glad I was running late then." Natsu said. He yawned. "I just woke up." He explained.

"Who takes naps in the middle of the day?" I asked him.

"The guy who had to run for three miles in the woods because his dragon stole his pants and wouldn't give them back." He shot back and crossed his arms. I burst out laughing. "Yeah yeah, go ahead and laugh." He said swatting his hand at me.

"Sorry! But that's hilarious!"I told him. He rolled his eyes and then stepped in his room. "Why we're your pants off to begin with?"

"They weren't! He just decided to grab them and run!" He tried to explain frantically. "I have the ripped pants to prove it!"

"Right sure. Well... I'm not really sure what to do now." I told him honestly.

"Feel free to come in if you want. I have some stuff to finish up." He called back to me as he walked back into his room.

"I thought girls aren't allowed in boys rooms?" I asked him.

"I've come to the decision that you aren't really a girl!" He called back from the depths of his room. I marched in there just to yell at him.

"Excuse me! I am most certainly a girl! If anyone's a girl here, it's you! Wait no, I mean me!" I argued back.

Natsu chuckled. "You're so weird Lucy. And gullible too." He added as an after thought. "How dressy is it out there? Should I change?" He asked.

"Uh, no I think you're fine. No one looked uber dressed up." I sat on top of his desk. I mean, it was either there or the bed and I definitely wasn't going to sit there. "Well, Levy was, but I figured out why the second we got there."

"Ah. Guess that's why Gajeel left so early. It's date night." Natsu said. He was rummaging through a stack of papers on the floor, and when he didn't find what he was looking for, he started opening the desk drawers.

"What are you looking for?" I asked him.

"Statistics on Igneel. Cana's opening a betting pool for tomorrow's race. She needs the statistics on all the dragon's entered." Natsu quickly explained.

"Are you even allowed to do that at a school?" I asked. I don't think I would ever understand the rules of this place.

"Yeah… Cana does a lot of stuff we're probably not suppose to do, but she's pretty great!" Natsu said positively. "I think you'll do well in the Cup. Cana will do great at anything land based. Fighting based too." He grinned cockily. "Well, unless she ends up against me and Igneel." He shuffled through another pile of papers till he finally found what he was looking for. "Ah ha! Success!" He cheered.

He pushed me off the desk and sat down on it, so he could finish filling out the form. I glared at him, but then took a seat on the middle of the carpet. Unlike mine and Levy's room, this one was a mess, with clothes draped over pieces of furniture and posters strung up along the walls. A photo album was thrown open on the floor. I decided to look through it, bored.

First were pictures of a young Natsu, flashing a piece sign next to a smaller Igneel. Natsu couldn't have been older than eleven or twelve. The next few were him with some of the 8th years. They were all so much younger. I recognized Cana, though her usually long brown hair was tied up in a short ponytail. Next there was a bit of a time skip, and the pictures showed Natsu around fourteen or fifteen. There were more pictures of people in our class. Levy, Gajeel, and a black haired boy. Even Erza was in a majority of these pictures! They all looked really happy.

The final pictures was the group all dressed up in fancy dresses and suits. Natsu looked over my shoulder.

"Oh that's from last year. There's always a little party for graduating students." He explained. In the picture, Natsu had a white haired girl on his arm who smiled brilliantly at the camera. Natsu on the other hand was looking off to the side, a disgusted look on his face as he attempted to pull off a red tie.

"Jeeze, take better pictures with your girlfriend!" I scolded him. He just rolled his eyes.

"Ex-girlfriend" Natus said, his voice clipped. "And she's Mira and Elfman's little sister." Natsu told me. "You'll probably run into her at some point." He added.

"Well she looks nice. Pretty too." I noted.

Natsu rolled his eyes at me. Oh, maybe it wasn't a happy relationship. Then he grabbed the book from me. "Alright no more snooping! Let's go party!" He said enthusiastically. I pulled myself off the floor and dusted off my skirt.

"You should probably go out first to make sure there's no one in the halls. So we don't get caught, and well, you know." I drawled.

"Oh come on Luce! You should be thankful if people think we're an item!" He joked. I raised an eyebrow at you.

"Yes, I've known you for a day, and that's exactly what I want people to think." I said sarcastically. "My thoughts were more on expulsion, but that works too." He shrugged and opened the door.

"It's all clear, your majesty." He said and playfully held out an arm. "Please allow me to escort you to the gathering." Natsu said grandly. I linked my arm with his and we took off down the hallway. "So what's your story?" He asked me as we walked.

"My story?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. Everyone has one, like why their here." He explained to me. "Like I'm here to become the greatest dragon tamer in the history of forever, but even I have a story behind it." He told me.

"Um… does daddy problems count?" I asked and he snorted in laughter.

"Alright, sure, but you have to explain them. That doesn't make much sense." Natsu pointed out. I laughed and ruffled his hair. It was soft, that was surprising.

"I'll tell you when you're older, kiddo." I said and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Excuse me, but not only am I taller, by a good couple inches I might add, but I'm probably older too." He said with a smirk. "When's your birthday?"

"July 1st!" I told him.

"February 29th." Natsu replied, sticking his tongue out at me.

"Okay that's like, five months, it barley counts." I told him and pinched his arm. "Plus, you'd only be like what? 4? 5?" He rolled his eyes at me.

"Okay, so I usually have to deal with March 1st, but I'm still seventeen, whether my birthday happens every year or not." He threw in a toothy grin. "Which means I'm older than you are." He bragged.

"Yeah, sure old man." I grumbled. By this time we had arrived at the common room. People were playing music and some people were dancing. It looked like the party was in full swing. Natsu unhooked our arms.

"Have fun, and try not to get into too much trouble, little girl." He added. "If you need anything, I'll be protecting Gray from Juvia." He said with a wave and disappeared into the crowd. I let my eyes follow him for a few seconds until he was lost in the sea of people. You know, thinking about it, I'd heard more about Gray from Natsu than from actually talking to him. Maybe they had a bromance going on.

I found Erza standing in the corner, sipping a drink. She handed me another, I looked at the questionable drink in distaste. "It's punch!" She said with a laugh. "Don't worry; I'm not trying to drug you or anything. That's not my style." Erza winked.

"Yeah, somehow I feel like you're more of the dominatrix type." I joked.

Erza looked up in thought but then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, probably." She said. "So having fun yet?" She asked over the music.

"Sure! I mean I just got here, I was talking with Natsu earlier." I told her.

"Natsu? Natsu was actually capable of a conversation?" Erza asked, shocked. "Did he scream or challege you at all?"

I shook my head no. "No, it was nice actually. I'm glad I'm getting to meet people!" I told Erza.

"Well that's good. It's good to make allies, I mean friends." Erza told me. "You never know when you might need them." She said with a nod. "Kinda like now." She said and pushed herself off the wall. She stalked over to two boys who were sneaking around, trying to get a closer look at something. "Sting, Rogue. What are you two doing?"

The blonde boy froze. "Oh hey, Erza. We were just looking for Natsu and Gajeel. Have you seen them?" He asked her. The other boy grabbed his arm and looked away.

Erza sighed and crossed her arms. "Really, how much longer is this going to go on? You two are 6th years already. You can't just keep chasing after Gajeel and Natsu." The blonde one pursed his lips.

"But we have to beat them! We're going to become part of the Big Four when we're 8th years! But not until we can beat Natsu and Gajeel!" He said stubbornly.

"But Sting, Natsu and Gajeel might not even be apart of the Big Four for our class." Erza argued. The other boy decided to speak up.

"Yes they will! No ones stronger than Gajeel!" He said confidently. Erza looked down her nose at them.

"Fine, sure, whatever you say. But remember, there is a time and place for challenging someone." She said strictly. And with that she turned on her heel and made her way back to me.

"Natsu has adoring fans?" I asked.

"More like stalkers." Erza muttered. "Those two are good tamers, but they let their admiration for Natsu and Gajeel get in the way. Last year during the Cup, Sting and Natsu were on a team together. The boy was so overjoyed, he lost control of his dragon and well… it didn't go well for either of them." She explained.

"So those two think Natsu and Gajeel are going to be apart of the Big Four next year?" I asked Erza.

"Yes, Natsu is no doubt. Even though we make it appoint not to tell him this, he is the strongest fire tamer we have. Although there is a small competition, it is just for a formal naming. The earth spot is a little more complicated. That's up in the air still." Erza told me. "And now we have the air spot filled." She said, looking at me.

"Oh no! I know what you're implying, but no! No way! I cant even fly my dragon!" I argued.

"You have time Lucy, you have a lot of time." Erza told me.

"Yeah, remind me again how much time till the first competition?"

"Twenty-eight days." Erza responded.

I was doomed.

* * *

**Author's note: Ehhhh, I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I know its just more character introductions so its not suppose to be super… drama filled but I don't know… Ahhh!**

**I'll work on it and make the next chapter extra spectacular!**

**If you have any suggestions please tell me! I know exactly where this story is going, but if you have ideas, I would love to here them! (I have the end planned… but the middle… ehehe….. oops…)**

**Hope you enjoyed this! See ya next time!**

**Oh and I almost forgot: Okay so Natsu doesn't have a listed birthday, so I made it on leap day because… well you've probably heard the whole fan speculation and the END thing and Natsu possibly being really old and all that stuff. I made it on leap day because it only comes every four years! So… like it only happens every so often so he's older than he actually is! And Lucy's birthday was listed so I used that.**


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